1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a batting practice trainer and more particularly pertains to a trainer which utilizes a home plate having extended colored side edges which assist in definng the strike zone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been at least some attempts to construct baseball home plates in a manner which would assist a pitcher, as well as a batter, in defining the strike zone. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,432,293, issued to F. Ingols on Oct. 17, 1922, illustrates a baseball home plate which utilizes marked sights on the edges thereof. In this respect, the borders of the plate are provided with grooves extending parallel with a line between the pitcher's box and home plate, and white or conspicuously marked sights are adjustably held in these grooves and project above the plate. As such, in the event that the home plate per se shoud become covered with dirt or the like and thus not be completely visible to the pitcher or the batter, the sights will effectively define the edges of the plate. However, this construction is still not a totally satisfactory way of defining the strike zone, since the raised sights are themselves quite small and not all that visible from the pitcher's mound. Further, the marked sights cannot be used during a practice game but rather are limited to strictly batting practice, since the marked sights could cause serious injury to a player were he to step on one of the sights while running across home plate.
A different approach was taken in U.S. Pat. No. 3,341,199, issued to P. Madsen on Sept. 12, 1967, wherein a baseball home plate is disclosed which utilizes contrasting colors on the border portions of the plate. Primarily these colored markings on the borders of the plate are provided to assist an umpire in defining the strike zone and are not all that much of an assistance to the pitcher. Specifically, the colored portions of the plate are so small in size as to be nearly invisible to the pitcher and further, dirt and other debris will gradually accumulate over the colored portions so as to defeat their functional purpose. Additionally, neither the Madsen nor Ingols batting practice trainers serve to assist in positioning a batter relative to the home plate, but rather are useful only in defining the strike zone.
There has also been a number of attempts to develop batting practice trainers which assist in correctly positioning a batter relative to the home plate so as to effectively improve his batting practice stance and hitting ability. In this connection, U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,487, issued to D. David on Sept. 19, 1967, discloses a baseball stance and stride practice plate which envisions utilizing two sheets of plywood having various strips of wood nailed thereto, such strips serving to effectively position a batter's feet in a proper stance during batting. The sheets of plywood are optionally positional on either side of the home plate and are not designed to assist in defining the strike zone. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,813,097, issued to L. Darby on May 28, 1974, illustrates a batsman box surface made of hard automobile tire-like black rubber which is positionable about a home plate and which utilizes 24 stakes driven into the ground to hold the same in place. A batter stands upon the surface of the batsman box while batting and, as with the David device, no means is provided to assist in defining the strike zone. U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,906, issued to L. Hermo on June 11, 1974, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,116, issued to J. Matchick on Sept. 7, 1976, illustrate further batting practice trainers which are designed solely for the purpose of positioning a batter's feet relative to the home plate and which do not assist in defining a strike zone. In this respect, both of these trainers are constructed separately from a baseball home plate and may be optionally removed or used during practice.